I don't know about y’all but Ol’ Dutch has a family history of starting projects late in the evening. It's so famous in our family that it's called the Nine O’clock Project because it always seems to involve starting some household chore about 9 p.m. These projects vary in scope of course and can involve simple things like changing light bulbs to full blown construction jobs like tiling the floor, tearing out the kitchen, painting a room or two or splitting firewood.  

For some reason, Ol’ Dutch seems to get inspiration about that time of the night and plus a burst of energy that will carry me long into the night working away like the Seven Dwarfs in the mines. Looking back, I think a lot of those late starts came about from my working such irregular hours on the Railroad. That job involved being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so there was no day and night for me.  

And maybe that's why I love the poem written by Cy Warman that features the lines: "It’s day all day in the daytime / And there is no night in Creede.” I can relate to that non-stop pandemonium that occurred during the great silver rush in Creede during the 1890’s. 

And I seem to have passed this on to my children as they often start their own projects way too late in the day for anyone with good sense. As I have gotten older and retired, I have stopped doing the 9 pm project. But the other day I thought I would introduce Miss Trixie to the concept as no one should miss out on such things.  

Ol’ Dutch had found some great shelving units way over in The City and they were located in a mall store that was being rehabbed. So, the mall schedule required that the cabinets in question could only be picked up at …drumroll…after 9 p.m.  It was almost like a word from God hearing that time and I just knew we needed to go get them.  

Now this is in big city traffic, pulling a trailer and nerve wracking to say the least for Ol’ Dutch. But we made it there at the appointed time, and Miss Trixie made arrangements to secure the shelves. After looking at them and attempting to lift one and the seller raising the agreed upon price, Ol’ Dutch decided to take a pass even though I had traveled so far to get them.I don't know if I am just getting puny or they were extremely heavy but there was no way I was gonna get them in the house if I did buy them.  

So, while I got the truck and trailer out of the way in the parking lot, Miss Trixie went back in to tell the woman we were gonna take a hard pass. Returning to the truck I remarked how the lady in question had a poor boob job at which time Miss Trixie began to tell me, “the rest of the story.” For not only did said woman tell her about how she had to get a boob job to marry her husband, but also all about her menopause, monthly visit from Aunt Flo and on and on and on. 

I have known that Miss Trixie does seem to bring out the best in folks, and it does seem like they all want to “spill the beans” so to speak as she often gets their entire life story. This usually occurs while Ol’ Dutch is sitting in the truck waiting which is just where I want to be too.  

So, the 9 o’clock project was a flop as we didn't get the shelves and got home late for this old boy. But I did get to initiate Miss Trixie into the family tradition and for this she is so thankful. I think.  

Kevin Kirkpatrick spends his days fishing, hunting, ATVing, hiking or making people laugh. His email is Kevin@TroutRepublic.com. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.